The Necromancer's Rogue

by Icy Sedgwick

  The final memory burst into life, this time accompanied by sound. Eufame and a Wolfkin – Jyx thought it might be Validus – strode through a grand entrance hall. A portrait of the Crown Prince hung above an ornate fireplace, and small coats-of-arms studded the pillars to either side. Seeing a nearby door ajar, Eufame darted inside. The gauze of memory fell away and Jyx gasped. A scale model, carved from wood, dominated a table at the centre of the room. At one end stood at Underground City as it currently was. In the middle was the Underground City as it would be. Completely razed. At the other end was the new Underground City – a pleasure palace for the wealthy in the City Above, free from the changing weather patterns and hostile neighbours that plagued the upper citadel.

  The world went black.

  34

  Chapter 34

  Jyx moaned. A headache clustered behind his eyes and set off tiny explosions of pain when he tried to move. He cracked open his eyes. Eufame peered down at him. Vyolet peeked over her shoulder, her face pale with concern.

  “Are you all right there?” asked Eufame.

  “My head feels all wrong,” replied Jyx.

  Validus helped Jyx to his feet. Monte held out his arm, and Jyx leaned on it. The coarse fabric of his jacket comforted Jyx in its utter banality. Such material reminded him that above him, life went on in a place where people bought bread, dug graves, and wore such ordinary, normal clothes.

  “Of course it does, it’ll feel a bit odd for a while. Not many people get to splash about inside the memory of a banshee and live to tell the tale,” said Eufame.

  “I was impressed by your disruption of the Crown Prince’s plans for his coronation,” said Hari Ma’Hara. Her mouth crunched upwards in the approximation of a smile.

  Heat flooded Jyx’s cheeks and he looked away. Vyolet sniggered behind him and he wished he’d learned a sigil to banish blushing.

  “Your efforts were commendable, if rash, young mage,” said Hari Ma’Hara.

  “He played his part beautifully. And look at him now! My successful little rogue. He broke me out of the House of Correction, you know. Along with this charming young Shadowkin,” said Eufame.

  Hari Ma’Hara smiled at Jyx. It was his turn to snigger when Vyolet’s dark grey cheeks turned black.

  “I hate to interrupt, and all of this is very sweet after the day I’ve had, but what do we do now? Mr Gondavere might be gone but that doesn’t mean the problems up there have. Do you know how many empty businesses I pass on the way to work?” said Monte. He shivered at the mention of his former employer’s name.

  “Monte has a point. What will we do now?” asked Jyx.

  “I have seen what you have tried to prevent. The City Above has grown corrupt, and unwieldy. The twin Cities were supposed to rise above the ashes of this Ruined City. One was not supposed to subjugate the other. The council cannot be allowed to continue unchecked,” replied Hari Ma’Hara.

  “So you’ll help us?” asked Eufame.

  “I shall, but I require something of you, first. Particularly your mage.”

  “What do you need?” asked Jyx.

  “My heart is still broken. I cannot fulfil my role without it. You have some skill in geomancy, and I would trust you to complete your earlier magick,” replied the stone goddess.

  Jyx nodded. Fortis lifted him over the broken wall, and he ran towards the catacombs. His eyes had adjusted to the gloom in the Ruined City, and he stumbled over rocks and other debris in the dark corridor. Something black, like a stain within the shadows, flew past him towards the tomb.

  He reached the chamber. Vyolet stood beside the fragments of the Heart.

  “What shall we do?” she asked.

  “I think I’ll try and heal it in here. It’ll be easier to carry a whole Heart than risk dropping a couple of fragments carrying it back through there,” replied Jyx.

  “Good thinking.”

  Jyx knelt and redrew the spell circle with green light. He added the sigils to its boundary.

  “Et ego loquar de lapidibus, ego quaero pro auxilio.”

  The fragments bounced and rattled across the floor, including the piece that struck Mr Gondavere. They gathered themselves in the centre of the circle. The sigils glowed dark green, the colour of the glass bottles kept by the apothecaries.

  “Nunc ego loquar ad fragmenta.”

  Unlike last time, the fragments turned green, pulsing with an inner glow. Jyx wrinkled his nose. The green light smelled of wet moss on stone. He’d smelled that scent before, right when Hari Ma’Hara put her hand on his shoulder when they healed Eufame.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Vyolet.

  “I’ve never known magick to have a smell before, but it’s like I can smell Hari, even though she’s not here.”

  “Well her heart is.” Vyolet kept her small feet away from the green circle of light.

  Jyx nodded. “Find viam reversi sunt.” He held his hand over the fragments. “Vos postulo ut cooperantur.”

  The smaller pieces bounced and tumbled around one another. The fragments fused together, sending green sparks skittering across the floor.

  “Tamquam ceciderunt in unum!”

  A throaty chuckle reverberated around the room. The laugh sounded like heavy stone rolling along a rocky path. The larger fragments collided with one another, their edges fusing where they made contact. They rattled among the smaller fragments, coalescing into a recognisable shape. The smell of wet moss grew stronger, but Jyx held his panic at bay. He could ask Eufame about the new magickal development later.

  A tiny green explosion lit up the room, staining the shadows black. Jyx blinked hard to clear the after glare. He looked up at Vyolet. She’d thrown down the goggles she wore in the City Above to guard her eyes. A wide smile lit up her face.

  “You did it, Jyx!”

  Jyx looked down at the circle. Lying at its dead centre was a perfectly formed stone heart. The circle and its sigils faded, winking one by one out of existence. Jyx pushed himself to his feet. Vyolet launched herself across the tomb and threw herself on him for a hug. She laughed in his arms, and he couldn’t help but laugh in reply.

  “No wonder Eufame needed your help! She’s brilliant, but she couldn’t do that,” said the Shadowkin.

  “I know…who knew geomancy was so useful, eh?”

  Jyx and Vyolet giggled, but the laugh faded on their lips. Jyx gazed into the purple depths of Vyolet’s eyes. Suddenly very aware of her arms around his neck and her face inches from his, he felt a flush creep up beneath his collar. Vyolet blinked hard and released Jyx. She stepped backwards and looked down at the Heart.

  “We’d better get it back to them then, Jyx.”

  Jyx gulped and nodded. He gathered up the skirt of his robe, and Vyolet helped him lift the Heart into its makeshift sling. Vyolet pulled the broken spear out of the wall and they hurried out of the tomb.

  Jyx reached the group in the abandoned shop before Vyolet. He held up the stone, still wrapped in his robe. Hari Ma’Hara’s stone face lit up.

  “You have done me a great service, young mage,” she said.

  She plucked the Heart out of its fabric nest and slammed it into her chest. Eufame and the Wolfkin shielded their eyes from the brilliant green light that shone from the statue. Jyx covered his eyes and grabbed Monte’s hand, placing it over Monte’s face to stop him from staring.

  “I have your spear,” said Vyolet. Jyx cracked open one eye. The green light faded to a faint glow, as though Hari Ma’Hara shone from within like an ancient stone star. Vyolet held out the broken spear to the goddess.

  “Can it be mended?” asked Jyx.

  Hari Ma’Hara took the spear from Vyolet. She wrapped her hands around the break and whispered to the splintered shaft. The air around the broken wood shimmered and danced. The magick smelled of sawdust and sunlight. Hari Ma’Hara unwrapped her hands to reveal a solid spear.

  “It looks as good as new!”

  “Jyx, you of all people should know that almost anything
can be mended!” said Eufame. Annoyance coloured her tone, but a faint smile played around her lips.

  “We do not want to hurry you, but we should ascend to the Underground City. Who knows what has transpired in our absence?” said Validus.

  Fortis relayed the message to Vyolet, who repeated it aloud for Monte’s benefit.

  “He has a point, Hari. Ready to leave the Ruined City?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  The makeshift company left the broken shop, clambering over shattered walls and made their way towards the staircase. No one mentioned the Bloodhound corpses lying on the cobbles.

  35

  Chapter 35

  They reached the staircase, and Validus helped Hari Ma’Hara climb the stairs. Jyx thought the healing of her Heart might have turned her back into a living goddess, but apparently the Hydra’s curse was permanent. Still, the return of her Heart, whole and bursting with pride and love for the Cities, gave her a new lease of life. The regular beat of the stone organ sounded like the tick-tock of Time itself.

  Vyolet led the way into the old chapel of the Lords and Ladies of Death. She pointed out the wall paintings to Monte. He shuddered to recognise shades of his former employer in the figures on the wall.

  “It is likely that the Dreadguards may have traced us by now,” said Eufame.

  “Will they be waiting outside?” asked Jyx.

  “It’s possible.”

  “There is another way out,” said Monte. “But it’s through the Shrine of Beseda.”

  “Is that how you got down here?” asked Eufame.

  “Yes. My wife…created a diversion and we slipped downstairs. There’s an entrance right beside the shrine itself. We don’t actually have to go into the shrine itself, but I don’t think the priestesses will be happy to see us come up the stairs.” Monte’s voice caught at the mention of his wife.

  “They shall bow before me,” said Hari Ma’Hara. “They know who I am.”

  “Then it’s settled. The Dreadguards won’t be expecting us to come out of the Shrine if they think we went into the Temple. Monte, lead the way.”

  The group followed Monte into a side passage. Bones piled on either side of the long, low passageway and skulls grinned at them. Gaps between the heaps of smooth thighbones led to grates, speaking of a network of corridors beyond the catacombs. Jyx forced himself to look ahead, keeping his gaze locked on Monte’s back.

  They passed under an archway and reached a gate at the end of the corridor. Eufame peered through the bars. Jyx closed his eyes and let the shard of the necromancer in his mind take over. A wide anteroom opened out on the other side of the gate. A priestess in a feathered headdress guarded a room to their left – presumably the shrine. A spiral staircase curved up into the darkness on the right.

  Eufame tickled the lock and the gate sprang open. The priestess gasped and lowered her staff, dropping into a defensive crouch.

  “It’s all right, priestess. We’re just passing through.” Eufame strolled out into the anteroom.

  Jyx grabbed Vyolet’s hand and pulled her through the arch after him.

  “You have men with you. They are not permitted in here,” said the priestess.

  “I have one man, and a mage on the cusp of manhood. I also have a Shadowkin, two Wolfkin, and the Heart of the City.” Eufame smiled, and a chill ran down Jyx’s spine. The frost in her tone betrayed Eufame’s annoyance at the interruption.

  Hari Ma’Hara stepped through the gateway, and the flickering torchlight animated her stone features. The priestess dropped to her knees, and her staff clattered to the floor. She bowed her head.

  “May we pass?” asked Hari Ma’Hara.

  “Indeed you may,” replied the priestess.

  Hari Ma’Hara headed for the stairs. Eufame and Monte followed her, and Jyx and Vyolet hurried after them. They climbed up into the darkness, but the warmth of the Wolfkin behind them reassured Jyx. Cries of fright, and then supplication, rang out in the chamber above.

  “I’m guessing they’ve just seen Hari,” said Vyolet.

  “I’d be scared of her if I hadn’t already met her,” replied Jyx.

  “I wonder what Eufame wants her to do.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough.” Jyx tried not to think about Eufame’s most recent grand scheme, the one that had ended in a bloody battle at the House of the Long Dead, and his imprisonment in the Perpetual Death.

  Jyx and Vyolet climbed up into the chamber. Eufame and Hari Ma’Hara were already at the door to the temple, and three priestesses knelt on the floor. Monte stared at them. Jyx crept up to him and steered the gravedigger towards the door.

  “Monte? What’s the matter?”

  “My wife… She died here,” said Monte, a dull heaviness flattened his tone.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” said Jyx.

  “She died because she wasn’t honourable.” Monte sniffed and pulled his sleeve out of Jyx’s grasp.

  A soft paw on Jyx’s back steered him out of the welcome space within the temple. A narrow boulevard stretched through the gardens in front of the shrine, and a large black coach sat at the end of the path. The crest of the House of the Long Dead was emblazoned on the door. Four glossy black mares stamped on the cobblestones, straining against the harness. The figure that sat on the driver’s bench clasped the reins firmly in a curled paw.

  “Interesting. I didn’t order any transportation,” said Eufame.

  “Is it safe?” asked Jyx.

  “I am quite sure that it will be so. There are forces afoot, and for once they do not work against us,” said Validus.

  They reached the coach. Fortis helped Hari Ma’Hara inside. Jyx peered through the window.

  “There’s only room for four,” he said.

  “I believe I can help with that mathematical problem,” said an unfamiliar voice. Jyx turned around. A tall man in a battered grey wizard’s hat leaned against the wall. He took a bite out of a bruised apple.

  “Crompton Daye! What are you doing here?” asked Monte.

  “Your employer owed me a favour,” said Crompton. His eyes twinkled in the shadow cast by his hat.

  “You gave a favour to Mr Gondavere? Pfft. I’d have thought better of you, Crompton,” said Eufame.

  “Simmer down, E. It all worked out for the best, didn’t it? Besides, I sent them to someone else who knows more about such things than myself,” said Crompton.

  “You know him?” Jyx gestured at the wizard.

  “Oh, everyone knows Crompton Daye. Well, it’s been a pleasure seeing you again, but we’re working to a deadline,” said Eufame.

  “I know, I know, but I just wanted to offer Mr McThwaite here a new job.”

  “I’m going back to gravedigging. At least I know what’s what when I’ve got a spade and a patch of earth to work with,” said Monte.

  Jyx was pleased to notice his hangdog expression had faded.

  “Listen, my friend. You’ve seen far too much for gravedigging to be satisfactory anymore, and you’d be a lot more help to me and my associate.” Crompton pushed himself away from the wall and strolled across to the coach.

  “Your associate?”

  “You know him better as Bucklebeard. He’s got to go away to take care of a few things and he needs a hand doing an inventory of his shop. Mostly books and such, but all kinds of archaeological treasures. Needs a clever man who’s seen a thing or two. He asked if I knew anyone who could help, and I had a feeling you might be in the market for new employment. Especially in the City Above,” said Crompton. He smiled.

  Monte turned to look at Eufame. Excitement burned in his eyes. Jyx wasn’t surprised. He didn’t know who this Bucklebeard was, but any job offer than included books was a winner in his view.

  “Go. You’ll be fantastic at it,” said Eufame.

  “I’m not abandoning you?” asked Monte.

  “Not at all. Bucklebeard is an interesting chap. You’ll enjoy working for him,” said Eufame.


  “This isn’t goodbye, Monte. We’ll come and visit,” said Jyx.

  Monte nodded, and moved to stand with Crompton. Validus helped Eufame into the coach, followed by Vyolet and Jyx.

  “What about you and Fortis?” asked Jyx.

  “We will meet you at your destination.”

  The horses let out an unearthly cry and the coach lurched away from the kerb. Its wheels clattered on the cobblestones, sending sparks flying in all directions. Jyx waved at Monte until they left the boulevard and pulled into the street. Urchins fled at the carriage’s approach, and housewives yelled curses in their wake.

  “Where are we going?” asked Jyx. His teeth rattled with every jolt of the coach.

  “The council chambers. Hari has an appointment with the Crown Prince, and he should be there right about now,” replied Eufame.

  “But that means going through Lockervar’s Gate.” Jyx couldn’t imagine the guards just opening the gate to let them pass. True, it was possible that Eufame’s sister hadn’t broadcast details of Eufame’s escape. The guards might not even know there were Dreadguards in the Underground City.

  “It does. But just trust me,” said Eufame.

  Familiar closes and alleys flew past on either side. The coach sped through the streets and onwards onto the approach to the Gate. The massive arch dominated the northern wall of the Underground City. Only Jyx’s Academy sigil had granted him free passage in his old life, when he passed through the Gate every day to go to school.

  Jyx leaned out of the window. The usual line of applicants snaked along the wall. A woman with a baby gesticulated at the Gate while the guard made a show of making notes in a ledger. Another guard left his side and lifted the great barrier between the Cities. He nodded at the coach as it passed. Jyx stared in wonder but movement in the shadows caught his eye. A familiar siren winked at him and disappeared into the throng moving along the street.